Heritage Designated Properties

Badgley House (Demolished 2006)

RR#2 Canfield

Built before 1861, this two-storey-and-a-half house was constructed entirely of lumber cut and milled on the premises, where the Bagley operated a steam sawmill as early as 1852.

The main block of the house was unusual in plan, elevation, and detail, and was said to have been modelled after “Malahide,” Colonel Thomas Talbot’s house near Port Stanley.

The Badgley House was demolished in 2006; the designation remains on the original stone chimney.

Edinburgh Square Heritage & Cultural Centre

80 Caithness Street East, Caledonia, ON

The former Caledonia Town Hall, built in 1857, is recommended for designation for architectural and historical reasons.  The building is of Victorian design and has been an integral part of the community – originally serving as a public meeting hall, the public lock-up, with the lower area used for a farmers’ market.  It later became the Town Municipal Offices until the inception of Regional Government in April of 1974.

4104 Highway 3,  Cayuga, ON

This c.1895 two-storey limestone house is a representative example of a large, late 19th-century farmhouse in an Ontario vernacular interpretation of the bracketed or Italianate style.

In addition, a large portion of Donald Campbell’s c.1847 stone cottage, which is illustrated on the border of Tremaine’s 1863 Map of Haldimand County, is incorporated into the walls of the house as it now stands. Donald Campbell, one of the earliest settlers of North Cayuga Township, operated a steam sawmill on the premises c.1861, thus making a major contribution to the early development of the area.

601 Haldimand Road 12, Fisherville, ON

The Charles Reicheld House is one of the finest and best-preserved bracketed-style farmhouses in Haldimand County. It is an outstanding example of the rich and finely crafted architectural detail created by traditional German carpenters. Therefore, it should be preserved for the enjoyment and inspiration of future generations.

136 Rainham Road, Nanticoke, ON

The first Anglican services were held in John Banfield’s tannery.  In 1848 and 1860 frame churches were built, the latter having a square tower and was consecrated by Bishop Strachan.  In 1886, Mr. Stroud of Lynn Valley built the new brick church.  In 1931 the Parish Hall was added. 

The Church of England introduced Gothic-style pointed windows, spires, and polychromatic bricks, and other denominations adopted it.  Christ Church today has two aisles, the baptismal font is typically located near the entry and the altar is raised and centrally located below the beautiful three-part gothic window.  The memorial windows each depict a full figure in stained glass.

3355 River Road, Caledonia, ON

Built in the 1830s by Nicholas Cook on land granted to him by Joseph Brant, Cook Peart House is a fine example of the two-storey Georgian style house, which was popular with the early settlers in Upper Canada.

27 Erie St. S., Selkirk, ON

James Cooper first purchased this land in 1847 but did not build this house until 1870. In 1878, he sold it to George Hoover. The present owners purchased the house in 1947.

740 Haldimand Road 53, Selkirk, ON

Built by William Holmes in approximately 1860 on the farm originally established by Jakob Huber in the 1790s. It is one of the few remaining examples of rural mansions of the period. It contains 16 rooms, including five bedrooms, a music room, and a widow’s walk.

3220 River Road, Cayuga, ON.

Built in 1853, it is probably the last remaining building of the early and active settlement of Mount Healy. It was once the center of social activity in the area. It is a fine example of a riverside hotel.

5 Mohawk Street East, Cayuga, ON

This house is a replica of a 17th-century New England Garrison-style house. It was meticulously constructed by Gerrond Somerville and Mary Duff using old building materials and architectural antiques.

The 1851 log house on the property originally stood at the fork on Kohler Road in Cayuga. It was originally owned by, the Toohey family. George and Florence Lint, and their three daughters lived in it until 1949. Clarence Bacher bequeathed the Lint farm in 1955 and sold the log house to Mr. and Mrs. Duff in 1964. The Duff’s had the log house dismantled and reconstructed at its present location.

1610 Concession 13, Townsend, ON

This lot was part of the holdings of the Canada Company, founded by Scottish novelist John Galt to relocate the poor of Britain and Europe after the Napoleonic War and growing industrialism. John Edmondson, from Ireland, bought the land in 1867 (he had previously spent some time in Quebec).

Edomonson's son Andrew farmed here after his father’s death. In 1909 the property was sold to Wm Jeffrey and remained in the family until 1946. In 1974 the land became part of the Townsend Town Site, but it was not developed as such.

2511 North Shore Drive, Lowbanks, ON

The Furry Tavern is a large structure built in 1821 of sawn lumber before there were local sawmills in the immediate vicinity, at a time when others were assembling log homes personally hewn out of the bush during the earliest settlement of Moulton and Sherbrooke Townships. It is representative of the homes of the financially secure citizens of colonial Pennsylvania and strands as a testament to their architectural capabilities. It still displays some decorative stencilling on the original walls as a sample of the early beautification of the home.

4830 Highway 6, Caledonia, ON

A fine example of a large family farm home built circa 1889. Situated on one of the century farms in Oneida, it was at one time the home of 24 descendants of Mary Sinclair Gibson (including Sir John Gibson). It is a two-storey brick construction of semi-Gothic design with full-height bay windows on the front and south sides.

19 Cayuga Street North, Cayuga, ON

Although there is no exact record of when the building was constructed, from records of mortgages, we can limit the time frame from 1868 to 1880. This building is an integral part of the commercial section on the west side of Cayuga Street, which still mostly reflects the nineteenth-century small-town architecture and vista of Main Street Cayuga. It served as a grocery and liquor store; and bookstore as well as publishing the Haldimand Advocate. It was also the Union Bank, Telephone Central, Baird’s Hardware, Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit and Avestal Credit Union.

1956 Haldimand Road 17, Cayuga, ON

This small brick schoolhouse was built circa 1874. It is one of two remaining buildings of the Gypsum Mines hamlet, which was a thriving, busy community when gypsum was mined locally from 1842 to 1910.

95 Concession 4 Road, Fisherville, ON

This is one of the oldest homes in Haldimand. The family of Daniel Hoover built it, in 1793. According to the Haldimand Historical Atlas, “The first white inhabitants of Rainham were Jacob Hoover, with his sons Abraham, David, Benjamin and Daniel, who came from Pennsylvania in 1791, and…purchased from the Government about 2500 acres of land.”  The Atlas says they were “Swiss or of Swiss descent.”

It describes them as “a thrifty and industrious family [who] soon effected large clearings, and became wealthy, as they were the first who had any surplus produce to sell to the settlers who took up land a few years after their own farms began to produce.”  The family was Mennonites, and it is believed that because they were neutral during the War of 1812, both American and British soldiers took refuge in the Hoover House. 

There is a family tradition that William Lyon Mackenzie stayed at the house while serving as Haldimand’s Member of the Legislative Assembly. At the time of the Atlas (about 1877), the Hoovers are described as “a numerous and wealthy family, and…among the most respectable and substantial yeomen of Haldimand.”

The larger house, which was damaged beyond restoration by the 1994 fire, was added in the 1820s.  It was a substantial two-storey house of frame and brick, with clapboard siding. In 1868 it passed to the Effinger family and was last lived in by Jesse Burford in the early 1990s.

The Hoover Log House is an artifact of the earliest white settlement in the area. It is a genuine pioneer log house.  Its early date, and its connection with the Hoover family, qualify it for a special place among the heritage landmarks of Haldimand County.

1615 Concession 13, Townsend, ON

Exterior Significance

The Jeffrey residence, built in the mid-1870s, is a polychrome masonry structure with a duel façade. The one-and-one half-storey west portion has elements of the Gothic Revival Style of architecture, and the two-storey end portion exhibits features typical of the Italianate Bracketed Style of architecture.

The west façade has three bays and a central doorway flanked by two windows. These are large double-hung segmental arched windows (2/2). A simply decorated verandah with square posts and delicate brackets runs the width of this façade. A gabled peak containing a round-headed window breaks the roofline above the door.

The façade of the east portion of the building is much more impressive and ornate. The central doorway contains a four-panel door with sidelights and an etched blue glass transom.  The square porch is very ornate with square twinned posts, elaborate panels and brackets and intricate fretwork.  Single round-headed double-hung windows (1/1) are on either side of the doorway. Three identical windows on the second floor correspond to the ground-floor openings. These windows all have brackets to accommodate shutters. The wide eaves of the hipped roof have ornate wooden brackets.

Interior Significance

Dominating and highlighting the entrance hall is a spiral staircase with marbleized plaster on the circular stairway walls.  The large panelled newel post has circular glass insets. The east parlour has an elaborately panelled window reveal, and also an ornate ceiling medallion intricately carved with birds, fruit and foliage.

5915 Rainham Road, South Cayuga, ON

John Fry, a blacksmith and carpenter, was one of the founders of the Plain Folk settlement along the Rainham Road in South Cayuga Township. His house is one of the oldest still standing in South Cayuga. Its three parts (c.1835, c.1855, c.1885) exemplify many of the characteristics of the 19th century Plain Folk architecture.

53 Talbot Street East, Jarvis, ON

The Canada Company held the first patent of this property in 1835. In 1842 John Jones, from Woodstock, purchased the land. Jones and his sons donated land and helped build the St. Paul’s Anglican Church, the annual Jarvis Fall Fair, and a community skating rink. The resident's son Edward was a postmaster for many years and retired as the oldest postmaster in Canada.

This polychromatic brick house displays Italianate styling as seen in the hip roof, round-headed windows, paired brackets, and window arches. Decorative brick patterning is found in the entry porch, at the wall corners and cornice, and above and below the windows. In the entry doorway, the arched sidelights flank both the door and transom. The inner door has a large glass panel, sidelights and transom.  Iron rods pass through the house to help stabilize it.

3062 River Road, Cayuga, ON

James Kirkland, a Scottish immigrant, was an early Haldimand entrepreneur. His whisky distillery in Indiana provided a major market for local grain.

His house built c.1861, commands a spectacular view of the Grand River and is one of the finest and most substantial Italianate mansions in the town.

57 Erie Street North, Selkirk, ON

This two-storey house is the only known surviving building of Norfolk County constructed on sun-dried mud blocks made from pea straw and clay, trampled by oxen. Lt. John Dochstader sold this property to the Hoover family in 1800. In 1817 Elizabeth (Hoover) Knisley received the land and the house remained in this family until 1903. The Lindsay family took over the house in 1905.

In 1851, a weatherboard was added to protect the façade.  The back and sides were plastered over, and in the 1930s weatherboard was added to these elevations. The house has a center hall plan with a rear kitchen extension. The doors and windows are deeply set to accommodate the mud blocks.

241 Broad Street West, Dunnville, ON

The original dwelling has remained mostly unaltered for approximately 100 years. The two-storey porch was closed in for additional rooms in 1918. In 1981 a committee to save the Lalor Estate was successful in preserving the home from severe alteration and destruction at that time.

Several reports were submitted to the council for the use of the estate: a library, professional offices, municipal offices and to be demolished for an apartment complex. The estate was sold at a public auction and used as a retirement home for the next twenty years.

2330 Haldimand Road 3, Nanticoke, ON

This Lot was part of the King’s College Reserves. It was sold in 1843 to John Mercer and others, and in 1852 to Col. Nathaniel Low from Toronto, who had an estate in Ireland. On his death in 1875, his son Arthur argued over the will and was granted extra compensation. It is suggested that he built the house at this time. He was noted for raising horses.

In 1950, James Morrow, a world-famous metallurgist became the owner. He worked for Stelco for almost 50 years. In 1968, Ste1co purchased the house for public relations and reception purposes.

This 1 1/2-storey polychromatic masonry building has a center hall plan. The central door, with decorative transom and sidelights is flanked by two 15-paned doors with arched transoms and buff hood moulds. Small basement windows above the doors are directly under the eaves. Buff-coloured brick pattern accents the corners of the building and under the roofline. Two large capped chimneys top the slate roof.

156 Caithness Street East, Caledonia, ON

One of the first fine homes built in Caledonia; this brick house was built about 1850 by Neil McKinnon who was raised by Ranald McKinnon, the founder of Caledonia. Dr. Ranald McKinnon, who became the Medical Superintendent for the Six Nations Indians, was born in this house. 

Later it was the home of A.C Buck, the town chemist, and was illustrated on the Tremaine map of 1863. From 1884 to 1925 it was lived in by Dr. Forbes of prohibition fame.

210 Broad Street West, Dunnville, ON

The House at 210 Broad Street West in Dunnville, owned by the Bartlett Family for many years, is a fine example of the homes built by the successful merchants of the town at the turn of the 20th century. 

It has many decorative architectural features; such as ornate brick fireplaces, and multi-paned windows. A special feature of the home is the 1930s kitchen with cabinetry styled typically to the period and very well preserved.

266 Irish Line, Cayuga, ON

This one-hundred-acre farm was bought from Crown Andrew Murray in 1848.  Mr. Murray emigrated from Scotland, settled in 1837, and was in business as a farmer and stockbreeder.  A sketch of the farm and residence appears in the illustrated Historical Atlas by the Counties of Haldimand and Norfolk.

45 Munsee Street North, Cayuga Part, Court House Grounds, Cayuga, ON

Thomas Nicholas, from Fowery, Cornwall, on the banks of the English Channel, built a log cabin ca. 1835 beside the Old Plank Road in the former Oneida Township. As his large family grew, a second story was added to the original one-room structure. In 1961, the cabin and its artifacts were re-erected in Cayuga’s Courthouse Park and made a permanent exhibit as part of the Haldimand County Museum and Archive.

While the Log Cabin provides the perfect setting for interpreting the struggles and rewards of pioneer life, the Museum’s artifacts supplement and enhance that experience. The archives, including a genealogy center, augment understanding of local history in concert with the Log Cabin and the Museum.

149 Forfar Street West, Caledonia, ON

The Caledonia Mill began to process wheat into flour in January 1857.  It is the last mill to be in operation along the Grand River using water power. The Caledonia Mill also has a surviving link with the Grand River Navigation Co. of the past and is a memento to the many enterprising men of Caledonia and the surrounding area, including James Little, J.B. Holden, John Scott, Donald McQuarrie 1832-1887, William Munro 1825-1901, James H. Thorburn 1845-1903, Samuel Scott, William Scott, Hugh Scott, Ob Scott, etc.

243 Haldimand Highway 54, Cayuga, ON.

Ruthven Estate and its immediate demesne are worthy of designation under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act for historical and architectural reasons, for its uniqueness and remarkably high quality of its complement of detail and long association.

Ruthven Estate, the main house and its wing designed by the master building/architect, John Latshaw, is considered his masterpiece in the domestic field and Ontario’s finest house in the Greek Revival style, believed to be without peer in the whole of Canada and vying with the best in the United States of America.

Historically the property is important for its connection with five generations of the Thompson family, entrepreneurs responsible for milling and related enterprises on this section of the Lower Grand River as well as being involved in early improvements to the waterway. Earlier generations of this originally Scots family were much involved in political and military as well as community affairs. Granted some 1200 acres of land by the Crown in the early 1840s the estate still has contiguous lands of that or greater area with important natural habitats of woodlands, wetlands as well as agricultural areas.

The buildings, particularly the main house and its rear wing, contain many possessions such as decorative fittings, furniture and art, which are part of the Thompson family collection, as well as documents of the estate, local history and military and parliamentary affairs. These, apart from the architectural fittings, do not form part of this designation but are included under a separate easement.

651 Caithness Street East, Caledonia, ON

The Seneca Bridge is a small steel and concrete bridge crossing the Black Creek on the River Road (Highway 54) between Caledonia and Cayuga in Haldimand County. Following the 1912 Good Road Convention’s guidelines, the bridge handled all the road traffic between the two towns for more than thirty years. It was designated for its historical and architectural value through Haldimand County By-law 443/84.

The Good Road Convention, at Toronto on May 7, 1912, recommended that all new bridges from four to forty feet in length be built with steel beams embedded in concrete for structural stability. Any bridge over forty feet in length should be built solely of steel.

The Seneca Bridge, built in 1913 and following these recommendations, has lasted more than 90 years, though it is no longer in use. Constructed by local contractors, the bridge stands as a testament to the area’s economic development. The provincial government took over control of River Road from Cayuga to Caledonia from the Country in or before 1937. At that time, it was renamed Highway 54. The Seneca Bridge handled all traffic between the two towns until 1950 when it was replaced with a larger structure. The bridge still stands today.

431 Queen Street, Dunnville, ON

George Sime emigrated from Scotland to Canada in the late 1840s and settled in Dunnville. A tanner and courier by trade, he became a respected businessman and prominent landowner who involved himself in local politics and served as the Town’s Reeve in 1866.

Sime built a two-storey brick structure in 1869, Italianate in style, one of the few remaining original large homes in Haldimand County worthy of preservation.

834 North Shore Drive, Dunnville, ON

The property was purchased and owned by the Squire William Anthony, on March 5, 1821. Anthony constructed a sawmill, a steam grist mill, and a distillery on this lot; in later years (post-1830), a brickyard and hotel were also located on this site known as “Anthony’s Mills”.

This property became one of the original areas of settlement, business, commercial and industrial trade in Haldimand County and led to the growth of Dunnville.

The fabrication date for the log cabin is not known. Historical records and documents reviewed by the Heritage Haldimand Committee indicate the probability that this structure was constructed during the same period as the grist and saw mills (c 1821-1829).

34 Main Street West, Selkirk, ON

The three-classroom Union School opened in September 1918.  It sits on Land originally granted to Lt. John Dachstader. Mr. Hall was the architect and Mr. Bennett was the builder. The first principal was Miss Kelso, assisted by Mrs. Abrahart and Miss Munt. 

In 1922, the Continuation School grades 1-12 was formed by turning the two basement rooms into classrooms, and the large front room into a science lab and domestic science room. Grade 13 was available at Hagersville or Caledonia. After 1949 students were bussed to Cayuga. In 1967 the school became a library and community center.

This massive two-storey, red brick building is accented by grey cement bands, window moulds and door surrounds. The basement extends well above the ground level. The roof is very steeply pitched with various planes, dormers and belfry. Two large doorways with pediments and 8 transoms flank a large central projection containing many windows.

3038 Haldimand Road 9, York, ON

S.S. #9 Seneca, Empire School was originally built in 1850 as a log schoolhouse on the north side of Regional Road 9.  In 1856, because of a large student population, a frame schoolhouse was built across the road on the present site. In 1885, the present brick schoolhouse was constructed. 

The school was closed in 1957 when the new Seneca Central School was opened. The school reopened briefly in 1959 when the Seneca Unity School was under construction. At present, this schoolhouse is a private residence, which has been refurbished by the previous owners Collis and Beverly Watson.

3 Front Street, York, ON

St. John’s Parish Hall, on Front Street in York, Ontario, was the first Anglican church in Haldimand County. It is a two-storey gabled roof, plank structure built in typical nineteenth-century Regency Gothic style. It was designated by Haldimand County for historical and architectural reasons with By-law 398/83.

St. John’s Parish Hall was built ca. 1845-46 by George Hacon and was the first Anglican church in the area. It was moved in 1895 from its original site – the present graveyard – to its current site and became the parish hall five years later on completion of a new church. It was sold to the Golden Horseshoe Antique Society in 1974.

86 Sutherland Street East, Caledonia, ON

This two-story frame house was built circa 1860 as the manse for the Sutherland Street Presbyterian Church. This was the first Presbyterian Manse in Caledonia and is the oldest existing manse or parsonage in the town.

4 Argyle Street North, Caledonia, ON

The Toll House was built in 1875 as a residence for the toll-keeper who collected tolls from those crossing the bridge over the Grand River.  The building is a good example of the Victorian Architecture of the period.

863 Keith Richardson Parkway, Townsend, ON.

George Upper came to Norfolk County in 1837. He farmed and operated a sawmill. He purchased all of Lot 24, Concession 13, where a schoolhouse came to be located, which doubled as a church on Sunday, and the half-acre cemetery. These gravestones represent a particular type of Ontario funerary art, roughly spanning 1790-1900, where tombstones were individually crafted objects of pleasing form and decoration.

The stones are soft, granite marble bearing carved motifs and touching epitaphs. The oldest surviving stone is on January 9, 1845, for Gereetia, wife of Joel Davis. The most recent stone is that of Ann Eliza Wilkin, June 4, 1873.

4163 Talbot Road, Fisherville, ON

This house is an excellent example of a large patterned brick Italianate or bracketed type of Ontario farmhouse. It was built in 1890 by Clark and Mary (nee Grant) Vanderburgh shortly after they inherited the farm from Andrew Vanderburgh, an early settler in North Cayuga Township.

Furthermore, the house is located on Highway 3, a provincially designated Heritage Highway, and is a familiar local landmark.

3513 Rainham Road, Selkirk, ON

S.S. #2 Walpole was built in 1872 on land owned by James Buckley. This red brick, one-room school replaced a square frame structure. The original single-door entry was replaced in 1957 by the present frame one with 2 doors, 2 cloakrooms, and 1 washroom. The gable roof with cornice returns has an open bell tower. The west and east elevations had 3-6 windows each. All elevations are common bond (7 rows stretchers, I-row headers). The north wall is solid. Inside there was a raised platform across the front for the teacher. Centralization closed the school in 1965. In 1967 it became a museum.

The museum is a memorial to Wilson Pugsley MacDonald of Cheapside (1880-1967), who gained renown with his 1926 collection of poems “Out of the Wilderness.” He wrote satirical and religious poetry, as well as lyrical poetry praising the unspoiled beauty of nature.

Haldimand Highway # 54, Seneca River Range Pt. Lot 14 (South of the Village of York)

This section of land beside the Grand River was granted to Adam Young and his family for their loyalty to the Crown during the American Revolution. Adam and his sons John, Daniel and Henry fought with the Butler’s Rangers and Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant in defending Canada.

Upon this tract of land, eldest son John Young was the first white settler to start a new life post-war in 1783. The family has erected a plaque to commemorate this history and has requested formal designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.